Rejoice in the beautiful earth

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Rejoice in the beautiful earth is a spiritual song that the Evangelical Lutheran theologian Philipp Spitta wrote in 1827. It is a praise of creation and creator in five stanzas, for which Frieda Fronmüller composed a catchy melody in 1928. With this melody the song was included in the Evangelical Hymnbook as EG 510.

Emergence

After his first theological exam, Philipp Spitta worked as a private tutor in Lüne near Lüneburg . During this time he wrote his best songs, including O come, you spirit of truth . He published it in his song collection Psalter und Harp (first edition 1833) with the subtitle "A collection of Christian songs for domestic edification".

text

The song consists of five stanzas in four lines each.

1. Rejoice in the beautiful earth,
because it is well worth joy.
O what glories
our God has scattered there!

2. And yet she is only a
richly adorned stool at his feet ,
is only a beautifully gifted,
wonderfully rich creature.

3. Rejoice in the moon and sun
and the stars always,
how they walk, how they shine
over our earth valley.

4. And yet they are only creatures
in the hand of the
Most High of God, sown on his throne's
wide, shining robe.

5. If there is
already such a glow on the stool of his feet and on the throne,
what must there be in his heart
for splendor and delight?

The song is comparable to Paul Gerhardt's Go out, my heart, and seek Freud . Both sing about the miracles and the beauty of nature, which in Christian spirituality long only came into view as exile and a valley of misery : it is “worthy of joy”. However, instead of undertaking a re-deification of creation , they describe it with biblical images "only" as a parable and foretaste of the glory of God. Gerhardt's 15 stanzas offer a lot of concrete intuition, while Spitta restricts himself to the earth as a whole (stanza 1) and the sun, moon and stars (stanza 3).

melody

The text initially appeared without a melody. After various melodies were assigned to the song or composed, Frieda Fronmüller invented a lively, catchy way in 1928 in which the last line is repeated in increasing numbers. The melody was sung with success by their choirs and found its way into hymn books, including the Evangelical hymn book under the number 510.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ EH Prinz: Monthly song October 2018 / Rejoice in the beautiful earth . Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  2. ↑ title page
  3. ↑ Isa 66,1  EU , Acts 7,49  EU
  4. ↑ Text according to EG 510
  5. ↑ a b Rejoice in the beautiful earth . Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  6. ↑ Manuel Busch: Rejoice in the beautiful earth (EG 510) . July 17, 2016. Accessed July 11, 2020.
  7. ↑ Christoph Albrecht: Introduction to Hymnology . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , 2016, ISBN 978-3-52-557178-1 , pp. 87-88.
  8. ↑ Gertie Pohlit: The loneliness of the poet . October 27, 2017. Accessed July 11, 2020.
  9. ↑ Rejoice in the beautiful earth . Retrieved July 11, 2020.